Publicis Groupe, Awaiting a Big Deal, Makes Another

The urge to merge on Madison Avenue is intensifying as evidenced by an acquisition made on Wednesday by an advertising holding group that has already agreed to a blockbuster deal to form the world’s biggest ad company.

The acquisition is being made by the Publicis Groupe, based in Paris, which agreed late last month to merge with the Omnicom Group, based in New York, to form the Publicis Omnicom Group, which will be a new industry leader in revenue. Publicis is acquiring Engauge Marketing, an advertising and digital-services agency based in Columbus, Ohio, with offices in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Orlando, Fla. The price was not disclosed.

Engauge was formed in 2007 by Stan Rapp, a longtime direct marketer, and Halyard Capital, a private equity firm in New York, which was the majority owner. Their goal was to acquire agencies in fields like direct marketing, behavioral targeting and data analytics, then roll them into one agency under the Engauge name.

“As we explored opportunities,” Nick Bandy, chief executive of Engauge, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday, it became apparent that Publicis was “the group we felt most the aligned with, the most comfortable with, the best home for our associates and our clients.”

Engauge will keep its name and report to a Publicis agency named Moxie, which is a division of the ZenithOptimedia Group at Publicis. Moxie has about 350 employees at its headquarters in Atlanta and offices in Los Angeles and New York.

Engauge is “a fantastic complement to Moxie,” said Suzy Deering, chief executive of Moxie, who joined Mr. Bandy for the interview. “Engauge has a very strong list of clients,” she added.

How Engauge and Moxie will be staffed and located in Atlanta is “to be sorted out,” Ms. Deering said. She and Mr. Bandy played down suggestions of possible cuts. Both agencies “are very busy” and “there’s plenty to do together,” he said.